Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 16.4

16.4.1

catvāri sūktāni vaiśvadeve śaṃsati /

He recites four hymns in the Vaiśvadeva [recitation].

16.4.2

paśavo vai vaiśvadevam /

The Vaiśvadeva is cattle;

16.4.3

catuṣṭayā vai paśavaḥ /

cattle are fourfold;

16.4.4

atho catuṣpādāḥ paśūnām eva āptyai / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

moreover, [they are] four-footed: [it is] for the attainment of cattle.

16.4.5

tasmād enad āratam śaṃset /

Therefore he should recite it with pauses;

16.4.6

ramante ha asmin paśavaḥ /

cattle delight in him.

16.4.7

ṣoḍaśa āhāvam vaiśvadevam śaṃsati / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

He recites the Vaiśvadeva with sixteen calls.

xvi. 4. He recites the Vaiçvadeva with sixteen calls; all this is of sixteen

16.4.8

ṣoḍaśa kalam vā idam sarvam /

This whole [world] consists of sixteen parts;

xvi. 4. He recites the Vaiçvadeva with sixteen calls; all this is of sixteen

16.4.9

asya eva sarvasya āptyai /

[it is] for the attainment of this whole [world].

parts; verily (it serves) to obtain all this. It is seventeenfold; eleven deities, four Nivids, the strength of the litany, and the offering verse; Prajāpati is seventeenfold; that rite is beneficial which is commensurate with Prajāpati. Having recited the litany, he says an offering verse for the All-gods, ‘O All-gods, hearken to this my call’, for the litany is for the All-gods; containing (the words) ‘be drunk’, for the third pressing is connected with ‘be drunk’; in Triṣṭubh metre; the Triṣṭubh is might and strength; verily thus he places might and strength in the sacrificer. He says the second vaṣaṭ, for the healing of the libations, for the support of the libations. The first Anuṣṭubh yonder is speech; five Gāyatrī verses follow the Anuṣṭubh; (the hymn) to Savitṛ is mind; (the verse) to Vāyu is breath; (the hymn) to earth and sky is the eyes; there is the breath here which is not distinct in (the verse), ‘Maker of fair forms’; (the hymn) to the Ṛbhus is the ear; the three isolated verses are expiration, inspiration, and cross-breathing; the hymn is the body; the Nivid what is within the body; the concluding verse a support; the offering verse is food. They say ‘Why are the holy power and the lordly power unstable, the subjects stable’. ‘The morning pressing is the holy power, the midday pressing the lordly power, the third pressing is the subjects; in that at the morning pressing and the midday pressing he concludes just as it may occur, therefore the Brahmans rule the people insecurely, insecurely also the Kṣatriyas; in that the concluding verse of the third pressing is stable, therefore are the subjects stable’ (is the reply).

16.4.10

tat saptadaśavidham bhavati / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

It becomes seventeenfold;

16.4.11

ekādaśa devatāś catasro nivida uktha vīryam yājyā iti / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

eleven deities, four nivids, the energy of the recitation, and the offering verse.

16.4.12

saptadaśo vai prajāpatiḥ /

Prajāpati is seventeenfold;

16.4.13

etad vā ārdhnukam karma yat prajāpati sammitam /

successful indeed is that rite which is commensurate with Prajāpati.

16.4.14

viśve devāḥ śṛṇuta imam havam ma ity uktham śastvā yajati vaiśvadevyā / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

Having recited the recitation, he offers with a verse to the Viśve Devas, "All gods, hear this call of mine";

16.4.15

vaiśvadevam hy etad uktham /

for this recitation belongs to the Viśve Devas;

16.4.16

triṣṭubhā balam vai vīryam triṣṭup /

with a Triṣṭubh; strength and energy indeed is the Triṣṭubh;

16.4.17

balam eva tad vīryam yajamāne dadhāti / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

strength and energy he thereby bestows on the sacrificer;

16.4.18

madvatyā madvadd hi tṛtīya savanam /

with a verse containing the word madhu; for the third pressing contains the word madhu.

16.4.19

anuvaṣaṭ karoty āhutīnām eva śāntyai /

He utters the secondary vaṣaṭ-call, just for the appeasement of the oblations,

16.4.20

āhutīnām pratiṣṭhityai / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

for the firm establishment of the oblations.

16.4.21

vāg eva asau prathamā anuṣṭup /

That first Anuṣṭubh is speech;

16.4.22

tām pañca gāyatryo anuvartante / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

five Gāyatrīs follow it.

16.4.23

manaḥ sāvitram /

The [hymn] to Savitṛ is the mind;

16.4.24

prāṇo vāyavyā /

the [verse] to Vāyu is the out-breath;

16.4.25

cakṣuṣī dyāvā pṛthivīyam /

the [verse] to Heaven and Earth is the two eyes;

16.4.26

yo ayam aniruktaḥ prāṇaḥ sa surūpa kṛtnuḥ / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

that unexpressed breath, that is the [verse] "shaping fair forms";

16.4.27

śrotram ārbhavam /

the [hymn] to the Ṛbhus is the ear;

16.4.28

prāṇo apāno vyāna iti tisra eka pātinyaḥ / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

out-breath, in-breath, and diffused breath are the three isolated verses;

16.4.29

ātmā sūktam yad antar ātmaṃs tan nivit /

the body is the hymn; that which is inside the body, that is the nivid;

16.4.30

pratiṣṭhā paridhānīya annam yājyā / (soma: tṛtīya savana)

the firm support is the concluding verse; food is the offering verse.